Opening a Victorian bricked-up fireplace - advice for a newbie please!

filmdeveloper

Hi all,

We're undertaking a huge renovation of our Victorian terraced house, which has a large chimney breast that has been long since bricked up. Our ideal plan is to insert a wood-burning stove and strip the whole chimney breast to expose the bricks and make a feature of it. Our (HETAS registered) installer has said that if I strip the plaster and re-open the 'builders opening' (fireplace) myself, he'll knock £300 off the price of installing it - great!

I am a complete and utter DIY newbie and so my questions are:

• is there anything I should be wary of?
• if there is a bricked arch as we suspect there might be, and it needs a lintel, is this possible to do myself?
• Apart from a lot of chimney crud, will there be anything dangerous? (I have a bit of a phobia about finding something like asbestos up there, though I gather this is highly unlikely.)
• What equipment is best for the job?

Any help at all would be great :beer: Thanks!

rustyboy21

The major factor you have to be wary of is that everyone thinks that a good Victorian semi/terraced/detached is well built and will be around for 100's of years, that's what I thought too, until I saw with my own eyes what was below the plaster ! The wall with next door was made up solely of off cut bricks, fitted together in a random pattern, with lime mortar between them. There was 5'' of plaster on top of this.

I have also witnessed chimney breasts in homes, when we have gone out to fit a fire, which when the plaster has been knocked off, where in a similar condition. It seems that the can't be ar53d in my work attitude went into the Victorian age too.

You would need to ensure that it is structurally sound when you open it up, you will need to fit large lintels, the brickwork will be in a state underneath, you will end up with a room of soot from the downfalls, so definitely empty and seal the room. If the brickwork is shocking, then you could cover with facing brick tiles to give the image of originality.

Just don't think it will be all hunky dorey underneath, it may look like a dogs dinner, but is strong enough to have lasted this time. I think the plaster work was holding my wall up ! lol


Would it be worth your while, actually paying him the extra £300 to do the full job?

suisidevw

I literally got a sledgehammer out and went to town, many rubble sacks later I got back to the builders opening and original arched lintel, fitted a fire, happy days. In our lounge now (other room) we have a wood burner and it's brilliant. Bear in mind, if you're going back to brick, it'll horrific if you want to grind out joints, repoint, clean bricks etc. Either use slips or just replaster and render around the stove.....

Some pics from 5 years ago









and the stove

Ader1

Can the OP post some pics? It shouldn't be too difficult to expose the original fire-place.

filmdeveloper

rustyboy21 wrote: »

The major factor you have to be wary of is that everyone thinks that a good Victorian semi/terraced/detached is well built and will be around for 100's of years, that's what I thought too, until I saw with my own eyes what was below the plaster ! The wall with next door was made up solely of off cut bricks, fitted together in a random pattern, with lime mortar between them. There was 5'' of plaster on top of this.

I have also witnessed chimney breasts in homes, when we have gone out to fit a fire, which when the plaster has been knocked off, where in a similar condition. It seems that the can't be ar53d in my work attitude went into the Victorian age too.

You would need to ensure that it is structurally sound when you open it up, you will need to fit large lintels, the brickwork will be in a state underneath, you will end up with a room of soot from the downfalls, so definitely empty and seal the room. If the brickwork is shocking, then you could cover with facing brick tiles to give the image of originality.

Just don't think it will be all hunky dorey underneath, it may look like a dogs dinner, but is strong enough to have lasted this time. I think the plaster work was holding my wall up ! lol


Would it be worth your while, actually paying him the extra £300 to do the full job?

Hi Rusty,

I think the man coming to fit the stove will fit lintels if necessary. I'm aware that arches, once bricked up, can fall so it's something I'd be very careful with. I suppose it's a case of knocking it out very slowly and carefully and stop/repair if I think it's beyond my capabilities or shows any sign of having slipped.

The only reason I/we wanted to do it is because we're having a whole house re-fit (house is a bit of a state at the moment!) and there is so much I can't do, that it'd be nice to be able to 'own' a bit of the project, if that makes any sense? If necessary, I'm happy to hand it off to the guy, but I kind of wanted to be a part of the project and not a non-DIY scaredy cat!

Thanks again.

filmdeveloper

suisidevw wrote: »

I literally got a sledgehammer out and went to town, many rubble sacks later I got back to the builders opening and original arched lintel, fitted a fire, happy days. In our lounge now (other room) we have a wood burner and it's brilliant. Bear in mind, if you're going back to brick, it'll horrific if you want to grind out joints, repoint, clean bricks etc. Either use slips or just replaster and render around the stove.....

Some pics from 5 years ago

Hi!

Thanks so much for photos - it's very interesting (and heartening) to see that someone else has done the same thing. We have no idea what the state of the builder's opening will be - one neighbour has a typical bricked arch and at the other side, they have a HUGE inglenook with enormous stone lintel. Our chimney breast is much larger than some of our neighbours', so it could be the stone lintel/inglenook-type - who knows.

As someone whose full extent of DIY is haphazardly painting a few rooms, the idea of prepping/pointing and plaster stripping is quite daunting, but I think it'll look nice once done. If the bricks are shocking, one of the builders said he'd re-plaster it, but the plaster there isn't very good so would need re-doing anyway.

Thanks for the pictures and input - it's much appreciated

filmdeveloper

Ader1 wrote: »

Can the OP post some pics? It shouldn't be too difficult to expose the original fire-place.

I will get some uploaded this weekend when we get going with it. The chimney breast is (I think, roughly) 2.5-3m wide and completely covered up with plaster (the previous owners didn't even bother to install an air brick). As to what's under there - it's anyone's guess (I'd like to think some fascinating Edwardian finds, but that's probably wishful thinking!).

Thanks

imho

Filmdevloper can you come back on and post pics of before and after.Only thing is your have to post some more on this website to get your post number up so you can then post pictures.
suisidevw your log burner looks amazing i am so envious.

suisidevw

filmdeveloper wrote: »

Hi!

Thanks so much for photos - it's very interesting (and heartening) to see that someone else has done the same thing. We have no idea what the state of the builder's opening will be - one neighbour has a typical bricked arch and at the other side, they have a HUGE inglenook with enormous stone lintel. Our chimney breast is much larger than some of our neighbours', so it could be the stone lintel/inglenook-type - who knows.

As someone whose full extent of DIY is haphazardly painting a few rooms, the idea of prepping/pointing and plaster stripping is quite daunting, but I think it'll look nice once done. If the bricks are shocking, one of the builders said he'd re-plaster it, but the plaster there isn't very good so would need re-doing anyway.

Thanks for the pictures and input - it's much appreciated

Not a problem. I did ours on our first house and my DIY experience was limited. This made me learn quickly!!

imho wrote: »

Filmdevloper can you come back on and post pics of before and after.Only thing is your have to post some more on this website to get your post number up so you can then post pictures.
suisidevw your log burner looks amazing i am so envious.

Thank you!!! It certainly keeps us warm!

Ader1

suisideview,

Your photo with the log burner in the fireplace is really nice. Where did you get the wooden 'mantel-piece' if you don't mind me asking? How is it held in place? Thanks.

suisidevw

Ader1 wrote: »

suisideview,

Your photo with the log burner in the fireplace is really nice. Where did you get the wooden 'mantel-piece' if you don't mind me asking? How is it held in place? Thanks.

It's on floating brackets so just two brackets heavily plugged either side and the oak beam slid on - it's HEAVY! I found a supplier off ebay who made it to size and did it as is in the picture shipped for £65 - bargain :money: